Alternate perspective
by ejunkie
Summary: Containing the PeinKonan collection, and the AU Akatsuki / AkatSakura collections. The purely professional activities of an organisation. Sort-of. "You nailed the next door neighbours cat to the wall?" "I wasn't their favorite daughter."
1. PEINKONAN: Clink

**PURELY PROFESSIONAL**

* * *

><p><strong>THE PEINKONAN COLLECTION<strong>

_Concerning the _purely_ professional relationship between a boss and his employees._**  
><strong>

**DISCLAIMER**: These brilliant characters belong to Kishimoto, but the subversions/characterisations, plot and world belong to this author four years ago.

**AUTHORS NOTE**: These have been due to be posted for _four years_. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did when I found the stored files on an old computer. xD

* * *

><p><em><strong>CLINK.<strong>_

_Clink clink clink. Clink. Clink clink. Clink clink clink clink clin-_

There was a dull thunk as the paper knife thumped into the wood of the desk, the hand holding the idly angled and tapping pen now frozen and quivering as the owner, the newest secretary sent by the 'bureau', who insisted he have at least one, if not more, assistants to distribute the work load more evenly, or at least make his cover of Company CEO (which he was, practically, as he did run the business) more plausible to the public eye, stared in barely concealed horror at the weapon vibrating ominously bare millimetres from the offending hand, petrified glance awaking from its trance to only flick from the scene in front of her to the burning amber glare of the shadowed man across from her, rising scream dying in her throat as she was caught up in that dark gaze.

"If you would please refrain from making any unnecessary noise, Miss…" He paused, his silence expectant and demanding despite the polite connotations.

She blinked, mouth working silently for a moment before she managed to find her words, voice small and on the verge of a stutter as she spluttered out, "Sally Harkins."

"Miss Harkins, yes, -then I believe we will have a very good working relationship. Do you understand, Sally? Silence is essential to maintain concentration, which is essential in this field of work, as I'm sure by now you already know, and thus I can not afford to be distracted by anything, not in the least by the bored habits of new employees."

Her eyes widened as his gaze darkened, hands detaching from their enclosed clasp in front of him to reach down to his desk, piercing gaze never breaking contact with hers for a second as he withdrew a second paper knife, to turn it lazily between his hands.

"As this is your first day, Miss Harkins, I understand you may not have known better, so we'll let this one slide. But I hope you will learn from this mistake."

He looked at her expectantly, and she gulped, mouth fluttering open once again to whisper a withered "yes"…

The knife's rotations increased in frequency, shock fading in the woman as fear slowly crept up in its place – she had heard his reputation, and thought it was just a lie in revenge for some petty argument with the man, but was there some truth behind it?-, catching her breath as she was sucked into a kind of trance by its deadly hypnotic whirl, fear steadily growing as it spun faster, faster, tilting up, up, and back- until he grabbed it securely in his palm, curved blade glinting in the fading light of the sun, and smiled, apparently oblivious to his assistants fear as he calmly slid it back into its draw, and she was finally released from his piercing gaze, quivering fingers causing the pen still clutched numbly in her frozen grip to tumble lightly from her grasp, where it rolled across the table, elegantly manicured hand moving quickly from the spot where the previous knife had stilled.

There was silence. Feeling a pang of pain in her lungs, she seemed to remember to breathe, breath exhaling in a whirling gust until, in a rush, everything that happened hit home, and, clutching her hand, she stood up quickly and backed away from the table, stumbling slightly over herself, until she hit the back wall. Breathe coming in faster and faster gasps as she bought each hand before her face and turned them frantically, she examined each finger, mouth silently mouthing the numbers, before her whole body began to shake- and she caught eye of the weapon, inch deep into the worn wood of the desk.

There was a clatter, attracting her attention once more to the sanctioned office ahead of her and its shadowed inhabitant, as she watched the man put down his pen and regard her calmly, the memory of that darkened gaze as he wielded that knife so _impossibly_ skillfully sending another wrack of jolts through her body, and the room seemed to spin and her breath came even faster, panic seeping into every crevice of her being.

She vaguely recognized the smooth voice of her employer lilting softly across the small space between them, but the world was darkening, her blood bubbling in her veins, any and all words and their meanings lost as all she could think of was escape, as far as she could away, from here, from _this man_.

Hands starting to move through the shudders and jolts and scramble softly at the wall behind her, she tried to think, think through the rushing roars pounding through her ears, along her veins, dredging through her brain as it permeated her very consciousness, until it was too much, and she heard a faint sigh as she crumpled, cold hands catching her shoulders just before she hit the floor, and the world went black.

"…There was an… incident." He closed his eyes at the smothered snort of the 'Head of Security' as he obviously tried and failed to withhold his laughter at the demise of yet another of the head's many secretaries, the longest of whom had only managed to survive a week before ultimately going missing, the investigation towards the cause for her sudden disappearance still as of yet unsolved. The dying rays of the sun glinting dully off of the metal pole piercing his lip as he turned his head briefly to check the condition of the newest – and, to his annoyance, still unconscious - applicant, before after a moment of considering silence he continued.

"You do realise that every time they send another one of these so called 'assistants', this company waste more of our _valuable_ time than any one of these people have _saved_."

Clickclick clickclick clickcli- click.

His attention wavered from the sheets before him, silver gaze focusing briefly on the muffled shape of a woman as she entered the doorway before he flicked her file shut, the woman taking that as her acknowledgment to come forward, the dulled cream of the carpet absorbing her footsteps until she halted in front of his desk.

His hand moved lightly to indicate the chair he had placed their earlier, and he took a note with a slight hint of pleasure at her perception as she took it, delicate hands folding neatly in front of her as she focused her attention on him.

Looking up from his desk, he paused minutely as she caught his gaze, tinted sapphire calm yet intent, before he chose to take note of her fully, from her primly suited and neat attire to her perfect posture, eyes never leaving his face in a rare display of confidence that he was surprised to find rather pleased him.

She might be able to stay.


	2. PEINKONAN: Beginnings

**PURELY PROFESSIONAL**

**THE PEINKONAN COLLECTION**

* * *

><p><strong>DISCLAIMER<strong>: These brilliant characters belong to Kishimoto, but the subversions/characterisations, plot and world belong to this author four years ago.

**AUTHORS NOTE**: These have been due to be posted for _four years_. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did when I found the stored files on an old computer. xD

* * *

><p><strong>BEGINNINGS<strong>

The first time they met was in an abandoned building in the middle of spring, rainfall pattering a silent rhythm on the bowed, tin roof, rusted holes dripping water constantly to the wicker floor. She was sitting in the center, surrounded by a dense circle of white flowers that sprouted from the decomposing weave, basket hanging off a skinny arm as she knelt to prise the flowers from the loose soil, transferring them over the short distance with careful, precise movements. He, on the other hand, stumbled in through the open doorway, water dripping from drenched black hair as he clutched a still warm loaf of bread to his chest, panting hard and casting furtive glances behind him. Confident that he had not been followed, he flicked his gaze forward. His footsteps faltered. A few seconds past as curious twilight met suspicious ringed, each scrutinising the other cautiously, stuck in a deadlock that seemed to last forever, before-

_crash!_

-a clap of thunder pushed the boy forward again and he sat at the farthest corner away from her, gaze not leaving her as he began to eat hungrily. She watched him quietly for second, brow furrowed contemplatively, before she returned to her gathering, swiping awry strands of blue away from her eyes.

Silence.

* * *

><p><strong>AT ANY AND ALL COSTS<strong>

_And as__ tears rained from the heavens she cried for me_

At any and all cost, she would find him. No- not just find him; save him, save him from himself, from the punishment he'd subject himself to. For if she didn't, if she couldn't save him, he would never come back, and she would be left alone. Again. Her fingers twitched as they slowly curled into a fist. She couldn't be alone again.

Muted sapphire glinted softly in the pale moonlight from the waning moon as she leaned farther forward into her perch on the roof, ignoring the slight prickle of rough thatch scratching at her palms as she focused on the faint footprint. The chakra residue gleamed so very minutely that had she not been a ninja and had not known Nagato for as long as she had, she would never have seen it, or rather felt it, as was the case, and he might have been lost forever. Gone, forever.

Like Yahiko.

She felt the all too familiar burning sensation behind her eyes as the predicted wave of pain and loneliness of her past swept through her one more, and she clenched her teeth, fighting back the tears angrily as she fought against the pain that had plagued her all her life- why, why couldn't she be more like _them_, why couldn't she fight away these feelings- she couldn't break down now, not now, not when her only family, her only precious someone, slipped through the trees ahead of her, all thoughts and purposes centered on the act of desperate attack, that he knew he, with all his ability, even he, would not come back from.

She couldn't lose him too.

Pale, slightly trembling slender fingers reached out, cut off sleeves already beginning to flake and fall away at the beginning of the jutsu as delicate fingertips touched the residues lightly, light blue, faintly glowing chakra flowing out in response and wrapping itself around them, absorbing their unique fingerprint like trace.

Eyelids fluttering as sapphire orbs dimmed and closed, she grit her teeth against her emotions and forcefully pushed them all away as she emptied her mind, eyebrows creasing slightly in concentration as her elegant fingers moved in a flurry of hand seals- before there was an explosion of paper, and she was gone.

Feet slammed into the ground, the water droplets splintering off at the impact splattering at the collision with burning red as he finally drew to a stop, chest heaving, summoned chakra at his feet spluttering faintly until it was only a faint wisp blown away by the wind.

Crouching down onto the remains of what he assumed was once a house, mind closing to the distraction of wind and rain, he concentrated, the flurry of chakra that dissipated into the air as he extended his senses reporting back not only that he was closer than he thought, but – silver flashed resolutely – they were not unaware of him either, the telltale, but subtle shadows, creeping through his chakra nets on the other side of the border pausing at his sight and disappearing.

A dozen small movements, a flash of silver- his feet flared with chakra again as his eyes flew open, leaping to the side, the barrage of kunai that was sent his way -a feeble attack, but more of a warning shot than anything else- hitting with a dull thud the remains of the buildings support beam directly behind where he had stood a little less than a moment before.

Twisting forwards and to the side, he hit the ground in a roll, fingers sliding into a seal as the fractured slab of foundation he'd ducked behind gave a dull crack under a sudden onslaught of heat, the heat of the flames licking greedily around the outer edges searing the skin of his back.

He turned, focusing his chakra on the central point where he had located them- silver flared unexpectedly in shock amidst the subterranean features of a face-a face that was not his and shouldn't be his- as he recognised the flickering form before him-

The subdued glimmer of blue was the last thing he saw before the world fell out from under him.


	3. PEINKONAN: Debutante Maneuvers

**PURELY PROFESSIONAL**

**THE PEINKONAN COLLECTION**

* * *

><p><strong>DISCLAIMER<strong>: These brilliant characters belong to Kishimoto, but the subversions/characterisations, plot and world belong to this author four years ago.

**AUTHORS NOTE**: These have been due to be posted for _four years_. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did when I found the stored files on an old computer. 3

* * *

><p><strong>DEBUTANTE MANEUVERS<br>**

_The well-loved leaders of the community._

Fingers circled idly the curve of his collarbone, and he looked down into heavily lidded eyes as they twinkled with barely concealed amusement. He raised an eyebrow, indignant, the action only causing the woman's amusement to grow further as she lazily tilted her head to the side, dusk blue bangs falling to frame her face. Leaning in, she pouted slightly, fingers tracing the curve of his neck as she twisted them both subtly to the side, narrowly avoiding another twirling couple. Feeling the rush of air, he cringed a fraction, stumbling slightly as he attempted to manoeuvre them farther out of the way, but she stopped him with a smile.

"Pein, we've been through this."

He looked down at her with barely narrowed eyes, clearing unhappy with the situation, and she laughed, leaning back in his arms to poke him lightly in the chest.

"Don't give me that. If you could lead without running into every other dancer on this floor, then yes, you'd be in control. But judging from yesterday…"

He sniffed and looked away, piercings glinting dully in the light of crystal chandelier as he frowned. Eyes making the customary sweep of the room, he was startled to see another couple sweep their way, and again they pirouetted past them, coming to rest at the edge of the floor. He glanced sidelong at his partner and guessing his thoughts she grinned, gently, yet firmly guiding them back into the middle of the room. There was a pause in the music as the song ended, before a long slow melody weaved its way through the dancers. He bowed his head, bringing his mouth level with her ear, warm breath tickling her neck as his eyes scanned the congregation beyond.

"They 'disapprove' of me."

She snorted, guiding them into a slow twirl, angling her head upwards so he could hear her whispered reply. "And what do you think they think of me?" His eyes focused for a second, before his eyebrows raised, a bemused smile crawling across his features. He looked down once more into the twinkling eyes of his partner.

"You nailed the next door neighbours cat to the wall?"

Eyes sparkling, she just shrugged, a mischievous smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.

"I never said I was the _perfect_ daughter. And you are one to talk, by the way." After a few minutes there was another pause as the slow song ended, and then a clatter, signalling an instrument change. Seeing the flash of brass, she took advantage of the pause to glide them to a deserted corner in the shadow of the changing band. Eyes glancing over the area summarily, her smile widened as she twisted back to her bemused companion – "we shouldn't be disturbed here. Now."


End file.
